Alright, so I noticed I managed to spark the discussion about this twice in the comic section, so I figured it might as well have it's own topic here.
Alright first off, yes, TMNT is not going to be public domain until 2080, not all of us are going to be alive by then and the ones who are will be 59 years older. It isn't going to happen for a very long time. However by 2100, the latest piece of TMNT media to enter the public domain is going to be the 4Kids adaptation of the Mike Micro, so we have a good idea of what will enter the public domain over the course of the first 20 years:
- 2080: The first two issues of Mirage
- 2081-2085: Mirage #3-27, The Micros, All of Tales vol 1, Shellshock, Archie Mini, Archie #1-7, Seasons 1-3 of Fred Wolf, the arcade game, the NES game (I'm not covering more games or Archie side books for the sake of simplicity but know that it applies to them).
- 2086-2090: Mirage #28-62, All of Vol 2, Image #1-5, The first three movies, Archie #8-72 Fred Wolf Seasons 4-10.
- 2091-2095: Image #6-23, The Next Mutation.
- 2096-2100: Volume 4 #1-19, Tales Vol 2 #1-6, 4Kids episodes 1-64.
That gives us a rough idea of what anyone can progressively do with the material for the first 20 years. And yes, technically copyright law could change between now and then. TMNT could enter the public domain before 2080 or (more likely) after 2080, but let's just assume the law remains the same for this thread.